


When Faced With Adversity

by Team_Free_Tardis_Deduction



Category: Attack on Titan, Shingeki no Kyojin, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, anime - Fandom
Genre: AU, Angst, Anime, Battle, Comfort, Death, Eren Jaeger - Freeform, Fandom, First Time, Gay, Gay Sex, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Levi Ackerman - Freeform, Love, M/M, Manga, Sad, Ship, Titan, ereri, gay relationship, gay ship, heichou - Freeform, lance corporal levi - Freeform, non-canon, otp, relationship, riren - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4097614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Team_Free_Tardis_Deduction/pseuds/Team_Free_Tardis_Deduction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being humanity's strongest had its advantages, no doubt. Levi Ackerman was respected, adored. He was doted upon by civilians and comrades alike, a shining star in their ever-so-dull eyes.<br/>He hated it.<br/>He wanted nothing more than peace and solitude.<br/>At least, that was, until that good for nothing, lanky, unpredictable hunk of human flesh and uncertainty blundered his way into Levi's life.<br/>And that hunk of flesh was called Eren Yaeger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Thankless

**Author's Note:**

> Also available on Wattpad! Link below...  
> http://www.wattpad.com/story/41243283-when-faced-with-adversity

 

 

Being humanity's strongest had its advantages, no doubt. Levi Ackerman was respected, adored. He was doted upon by civilians and comrades alike, a shining star in their ever-so-dull eyes. He hated it. He wanted nothing more than peace and solitude.  
At least, that was, until that good for nothing, lanky, unpredictable hunk of human flesh and uncertainty blundered his way into Levi's life.  
And that hunk of flesh was called Eren Yeager.

~~~

"Heichou?"  
"No."  
"Hei-"  
Levi spun around, fixing Yeager with a particularly threatening look. "No."  
"All I want-"  
"No."  
"Is-"  
"Shut up."  
"To know-"  
"Get the hint, brat."  
"Where we're going."  
Levi sighed heavily, his eyes rolling upwards to stare at the sky, questioning the blue abyss as to why, of all the people on this pile dump they called earth, Levi was the one to be stuck with Eren Yeager. The kid just didn't quit. The questions fired left, right and centre, jostling Levi about. He barely had to time to answer one before another was shot at him.  
"That is for me to know and you to find out."  
"But, Corporal!" Eren's whiny voice dragged out the name, _Coooooorrrrrrrporal_. Levi was painfully reminded of just how young Eren was, how childish. A thing he so often forgets- purposely or otherwise. The human-titan hybrid was barely 16, still a child, still growing, still fresh. "I need to know. Please, please tell me."  
"You just don't quit, do you?" Levi unintentionally raised his voice, mentally kicking himself. Eren was just about the only one who could get a rise out of him, and the kid sure did abuse that power. "We're headed out on a scouting excursion. It won't be long- the team is small- 5 days-maximum. Now, shut _up_."  
Eren sat back in his saddle, as if processing the information. There's a short pause in which Levi took the time to adjust his gear into a more comfortable position, his mare stamping impatiently. The 3D Manuever Gear was fairly lightweight, but large. The oversized metal rectangles clung awkwardly to Levi's thighs, clanging about. It made for a rather unpleasant ride,  
"Why do we have to scout?" Eren finally broke the silence, his genuine voice slicing through Levi's thoughts like a knife through butter.  
"Why do you think, idiot?" Levi rolled his eyes again. "To make sure none of those creatures are still wandering about?"  
"Y'reckon there'll be some?"  
Levi paused for a moment, knitting his thin eyebrows even tighter together. "Yes."  
That's all the motivation Eren needed. He shifted in the saddle, adopting a ready stance. His back lined with the horse's, heels dropped low and elbows soft, ready to spring into action. "Then we'll find them." He growled determinedly.  
"Eren," Levi began, his voice already adopting a scrutinising tone. "We're heading out to _scout_ , not engage. If we spot a titan, we will report it. That's all."  
Eren's stance faltered. "But, Captain-"  
"No, Yeager. One more word from you and I'll leave you behind to scrub floors."  
Eren's jaw snapped shut and he said no more. The rest of the group eventually arriving to join the pair. Levi issued orders and they spread out into formation.  
"Hereby commences," Levi roared over the sound of stamping feet and nervous shuffling. "The 61st exploration outside the wall." Sword raised, Levi let out as loud a cry as he dared, the others following suit, and they stampeded beyond the wall into the clear, fresh beyond. It seemed strange, usually Erwin was the one to announce the missions, but here Levi was, leading the troops.  
It all seemed off. Wrong. Out of balance.  
Beyond the wall, the sky was clear. Though, puffy, greying clouds in the yonder hills hinted towards future rainfall. Levi hoped they'd conclude their mission before the rain arrived. He hated the mud.  
The sweet green grass tickled at his horse's feet, swaying idly in the breeze. Everything was picturesque. Beautiful and open.  
Levi leaned back ever so slightly, slowing his mare to as a smooth a trot as she could muster, and inhaled deeply.  
Eren drew up beside him, glancing at the Corporal's drooped eyelids falling lazily over his steel irises. "It's a nice day."  
"Shut up, Eren, you're ruining it."  
_Yep_ , Eren nodded to himself. _The Captain is relaxed_. And if Levi could find himself comfortable enough to drop his guard a little, then so could Eren.  
God knows, they all needed a break.  
The war had drawn to a close, at least for now. The titans were executed- none had been sighted for months- and humanity was beginning to rebuild from the rubble the war had left in its wake. Eren had been granted freedom, at least for now, and allowed to stay in the Scout Regiment, under Levi's watchful eye.  
Still, who knows when the council would recall him. Execute him. As far as humanity was concerned, he was a threat. With him still lingering about, the titans were not truly gone.  
The group slowed to a brisk, but lazy walk. Levi occasionally muttered orders, but, other than that, the Scouts were silent.  
No titans were found. Not a single enemy in sight.  
"When will we camp?" It felt like hours had passed since Eren last opened his mouth. In fact, the sky had begun to darken, the burning sun dipping down into the purple horizon. The rain clouds drew closer.  
"When we reach the trees." Levi gestured vaguely to the forest of colossal trees. A dark, towering structure, obscuring their view from whatever lies beyond.  
"In the forest?"  
"Yes."  
Eren nodded, dropping back. He may have been clueless at times, but he could take a hint. He drew his horse up beside Armin and petted his shoulder. "Hey."  
"Hey, Eren." Armin smiled. "Not a titan in sight."  
Eren shook his head. "No. I'm beginning to grow optimistic."  
"Still," Armin continued. "It'd be unwise to let your guard down, especially with a group of such small numbers."  
Ever the strategist, it came to no surprise to Eren that Armin continued to remain on edge. "You got a plan for if, y'know, we do see one?"  
Armin smirked. "Run."  
Eren tipped his head back, allowing an airy laugh to flow from his lips. "Well, that's one idea."  
"We also have you."  
"I'm no good." Eren squinted at Armin. It seemed strange that he'd say that, considering he's usually so concerned about Eren's transformations, opting for any other option whenever possible.  
Armin seemed to catch himself, then, turning his face away. "Right, but as a last resort..."  
"Right..."  
The conversation stuttered to a halt, the pair riding in a comfortable silence, shattered only by Armin's quiet voice.  
"I'm glad it's over."  
Eren wasn't one hundred percent sure he knew what Armin meant, but he had a pretty good idea. The war. The fight. The fear. The death.  
"Yeah."  
"I'm glad you're okay, too." Armin glanced up at him, smiling.  
"Same." Eren laughed. "No, but really. I'm glad we're all..." He trailed off. He was going to say, _I'm glad we're all okay_. but they're not. They're really not.  
"Where's Mikasa?" Armin switched the topic, which Eren is grateful for.  
"Not sure. Up the back somewhere."  
"She seems at ease." Armin commented.  
"I just think she's relieved as well."  
"We all are." Eren and Armin jumped, eyes snapping up. They hadn't even heard Levi's horse fall back to join them.  
"Corporal." The teenagers saluted in unison, still blinking away their surprise.  
"At ease." Levi waved them away. "There's no need to salute."  
Armin and Eren dropped their arms to their sides.  
"When are we stopping, Corporal?" Armin asked innocently.  
"Tch," Levi hissed in his usual, mildly peeved manner. "You kids, so eager to slack off-" He caught himself, however. He very nearly said, _when I was you're age_...  
Oh, he was getting old.  
"Oh, no, sir!" Armin scrambled to correct himself. "I was simply inquiring, just to... Work out some... Um, things." 'Things' was not a term frequently spat from Arlert's mouth.  
"The trees." Levi pointed at the magnificent trunks rising up from the distance. "We should arrive before nightfall."  
"And hopefully before the rain." Armin tilted his head back to blink at the pristine sky. It would be ever so easy to enjoy the marvellous weather, if those threatening looking rain clouds could just disappear.  
"Yes," Levi concurred. "Before the rain."  
"The mission is looking promising, though." Eren cut in. "Not a titan in sight."  
Levi hesitated. "No."  
"A successful trip, then?"  
Armin fixed Eren with a stern look. "Don't be so quick to drop your duty. Letting your guard down now could result in fatality. We may not have seen one _yet_ , but who knows what's around the bend?"  
Armin's voice was so serious Eren couldn't help but laugh. "There are no bends in this journey, Armin. It's a straight line to the trees."  
Armin pouted and glanced away. "It was a figure of speech."  
"You should listen to him, idiot." Levi interjected, knocking every whisper of lightheartedness from the air. "With talk like that, you're practically _begging_ for trouble. If you get any one of your comrades killed, you can say goodbye to the wall, because I, personally, will banish you."  
"Oh." Eren didn't know what he had expected.  
"Heichou!" One of the older Scouts rode up to the trio, panting some. "A full patrol of the perimeter has been conducted, not an enemy in sight."  
Levi's eyes squinted a little, if squinting were ever possible. "Thank-you."  
The Scout salute and tore off, peeling away from the group to reattach himself to his own sector.  
"See," Eren didn't know where this sudden bravery had sprouted from, but he almost wished it would go away. "Things are looking up, heichou."  
Levi scoffed and urged his mate forward, breaking into a slow gallop. "You might want to hurry if you wish to reach the campsite before dark!" He called over his shoulder.  
Eren and Armin exchanged a look before taking off after their leader, the resounding sound of thundering hooves pounding behind them.

The last of the dying rays of sunlight sunk below night's blackened edge as the Scouts tethered their horses and set up camp. Already, multiple makeshift tents had been propped up, the troops scurrying around, collecting firewood and leaves for bedding.  
"Wanna share camp, Eren?" Armin asked, rolling out his thin blanket. Mikasa glanced up from where she sat, cross legged, worrying two pieces of wood together to try and start a fire.  
"Yeah, sure." Eren shrugged. He had thought it'd been a predetermined answer.  
Mikasa let out a frustrated cry and slammed the two stick down. Her sudden outburst caused many around her to jump, hands flying down to grip the hilt of their swords.  
"It's okay, it's okay." Armin held his hands out to their comrades. "Shes just frustrated."  
It was a warranted reaction on their part, however. Mikasa rarely lost her temper at such minor things. That was Eren's department.  
"Now, let's see." Armin crouched down beside Mikasa and inspected her sticks. "They're not damp. Perhaps you weren't rubbing them fast enough?"  
"I was rubbing plenty fast." Mikasa snapped. "The stupid sticks are broken."  
"No, no..." Armin had his calculated look on, his eyes darting around, assessing, processing. His large brain almost visibly turned like clockwork in his head, cooking up a solution. "Perhaps it's the angle, of you hold it like this, see, you-"  
And then the sticks were gone from his fingers. Armin jumped, shocked, and stared at the unoccupied space where the twigs had just been and second earlier.  
"You brats take so damn long." Levi's cool, even voice mused from behind him, and Armin spun around as Eren and Mikasa look up. A moment later, a fire flickered to life beside them. "You can't apply science to everything, Arlert."  
Armin looked stunned, frozen. "Right, sir."  
Eren would've laughed, if Levi wasn't so intimidating. The latter turned his steel gaze to Eren and tossed the twigs into the blaze. "Stay close to me, Yeager."  
That was it. No explanation, no further comments. Levi just turned on his heel and strode off, his small frame emitting an unbelievable large air of superiority.  
"What was that about?" Mikasa lent in, whispering loudly in Eren's ear.  
"I don't know." Eren furrowed his brow, confused.  
The three sat in an awkward silence, staring at Levi's back until he disappeared from view.  
"We didn't even thank him." Armin commented eventually, holding his hands up to the fire.  
It came to Eren's attention then that no one, in fact, ever thanked Levi Ackerman, humanity's strongest soldier.  
Ever.  
Not once.


	2. There's No 'I' in Peace

 

The first thing Eren noticed was the pain. It was sharp, slitting across the nape of his neck. But no more than a scrape, a misjudged slice.  
A paper cut with blades.  
Eren roared and flayed his arm out. He hit something, something small. It felt like swatting a bug. A fly, perhaps? No, it was too big.  
Another sting of pain, creeping over his forearm. This time, it felt deeper. A true cut. Eren roared and dropped to his knees as pain erupted everywhere, flicking up his shins, his shoulders. Every attack was so precise, so fast, he barely had time to react at all.  
"Eren!" Someone called in the distance. "Eren! Eren!"  
His neck erupted into a fiery pain, flames licking at his scalp and spine. Everything was going black. Everything was slipping.  
Someone called his name.

~~~

**A FEW HOURS EARLIER**

The camp was silent, a ghostlike quiet falling over the place.  
Levi sat hunched over the dying embers of his fire. His hands felt numb, fumbling with the rock which he was methodically scraping over the length of his blade. A strong breeze whipped through the place, causing the hairs on Levi's forearms to raise in retaliation. His fire was snuffed out, fading into a cloud of grey smoke.  
"Shit." Levi mumbled, moving to find two sticks to start anew.  
But something stopped him. A sound, one that shouldn't have been there.  
It sounded like crying, like pain. A hurt whimper.  
Levi shuffled as silently as possible, crouching down on the balls of his feet, swords drawn and ready.  
The mumbling grew louder, morphing into a series of inaudible moans.  
"Eren?" Someone whispered. Levi sat back on his hams, processing the current situation.  
A loud crying and the clattering of something metallic. "Eren, wake up!" The voice had grown urgent. It was Armin Arlert's, Levi thought. It sounded like the young cadet.  
"Eren," And there was Mikasa. "Its okay. It's all okay, Eren."  
Levi was just contemplating slapping Yeager into the land of the living to avoid waking the whole camp when he was blown backwards, his back colliding with the wet earth with a painful thump.  
Blearily, he blinked up at the sky. He hadn't broken anything, just winded... Winded?  
 _Eren_!  
Levi leapt up, spinning around to face the camp. He'd been blown further away than he thought, but he could still see the chaos from where he stood.  
A loud, agonised, inhuman cry rang out through the forest. Lightning sparks were just fading into an bomb-like billow of smoke, the air congested with the strange substance. To an outsider, it'd look like an explosion, but Levi knew better.  
"Damn it, Eren." He knew this would happen eventually. He knew it....  
Eren had grown increasingly restless over the weeks prior to their expedition. It'd been passed off as PTSD. His nightmares waved away as nothing more than his childish mind processing the war. Still, Eren was no ordinary 'child'. The superiors should have known that, should've been more careful.  
Eren had been so close, so many times, to transforming within headquarters. It was a naive mistake on the leader's behalf to allow this to continue on. Levi had to burst into the male bunk room so many times during the many nights post-war to stop Yeager from gnawing into his hand. There'd been so many close calls he thought he'd die early from stress. Forget titans, this kid would be the death of him.  
Then again, Eren is a titan, isn't he? At least partially.  
And then it had hit Levi like a ton of bricks, a revelation shocking enough to send him stumbling back. He'd been so _stupid_. How could he not see this?  
This wasn't a scout excursion. This was an _execution_.  
He'd lied to Eren. He'd promised him safety and now...  
 _"Control Eren Yeager, eh? Can you do it, Levi?"  
_ _"If you mean, can I kill him? Certainly. The thing is, though, that there are no halfway measures."  
_ Oh no. No, no...  
"Eren!" Levi hadn't meant to sound so frightened. He hadn't meant to let his panic creep into his voice. "Eren, wait!"  
He was going to be forced to kill Eren.  
"Captain Levi!" His troops screamed, scattering about. "What do we do? Heichou?"  
 _I don't know... I don't know_ , Levi thought. He didn't have all the answers. He didn't know what to do. All he knew was that then, in that moment, he had a choice: His troops, or the man he...  
It didn't matter. He had to decide. A choice with no regrets.  
Levi fitted his gear and fired, shooting himself up into the lower boughs of a nearby tree. "Leave him to me!" He screamed to be heard over Eren's cries.  
The others might kill the boy, whether they meant to or not. Levi knew he was skilled enough to get Yeager out alive. He just had to be careful, precise. He would not lose what's left of his squad. He would not lose his friend, his...  
He just wouldn't lose Eren.  
He leapt forward, blade slicing. He ignored the sizzling blood that splattered over his clothing and skin, mingling for a moment with the dark strands of his hair before fading away.  
 _Eren's blood_ , he thought. _That's Eren's_.  
Levi tried to ignore the fact that he was the one cutting Eren up, the one inducing those pained cries. He blocked his ears to the screams, closing off every thought other the ones required for his mission.  
He was just about to swing back and begin extracting Eren from the titan's neck when he was swatted away. His chest slammed into Eren's gigantic hand, smacking into the tough skin with the force of a horse colliding with a stone wall. Levi gasped, his whole body flung across the treeless patches of forest. He struggled with his gear, trying to launch his wires into nearby trees to break his fall.  
"Damn it, Eren!" He spat, finally regaining his balance. His whole body screamed at him, aching and groaning with the effort of balancing between his two metal lines. "I'm trying to help you, you stupid bra-"  
 _Crunch_.  
Blood fountained beneath Yeager's forearm. Human blood. That was a soldier.  
Eren's screams turned from hurt to angry, roaring to a deafening volume. Levi noticed then, for the first time, that the titan boy's eyes were sealed shut, as if he was trapped behind them. Like he was dreaming. As if the monster within him had finally won him over, sealing Eren away within the cage of his eyes. Shut away in the dark. Blind and frightened and-  
 _Crush_.  
Another.  
 _Stamp_.  
Again.  
"Stop!" Levi bellowed, soaring forward. "Eren, what are you doing?" _Splat_. "Eren, STOP THIS!"  
"Eren! Eren, wake up!" Mikasa and Armin, dancing around Eren's feet, dodging frantic footfalls in an attempt to reason with him.  
Levi bit his lip, snapping off in the opposite direction. _I thought I told them to steer clear_.  
He swooped down, scooping the teens up and out of danger.  
"Oi! Put me down!" Mikasa pounded on Levi's back.  
"Heichou, please. We have to talk to him!"  
Levi ignored the pair.  
Eren continued to bellow behind them, the echoing sounds of cracking bones and splattering blood filling the empty void of the forest. Levi felt sick, flinching at every death cry that rang up behind them. He stared straightforward, maintaining his blank mask, focussing all his energy on getting the young cadets to safety. He spotted a clearing a little way ahead and began to drop, preparing to drop Mikasa and Armin. They slipped through his arms a moment later, falling to the soft earth with a heavy thud.  
"Oi, what are you doing?" Mikasa jeered, shooting daggers at Levi.  
Armin looked puzzled. "Heichou, what is the meaning of this?"  
"Stay here, you brats, an stop asking such stupid questions. I'll go handle Eren."  
"No!" The dark haired girl leapt forward, trying to grab at Levi's ankle as he dangled a few metres above them. "You can't kill him! I won't let you!"  
Levi almost dropped his mask, shocked at her presumption. "Kill Eren?" He blinked at her, glancing at Armin. Is that what they thought of him? A mindless killing machine? "Never."  
He turned before Mikasa could respond, firing back through the trees. He knew they were, to some extent, right to assume such things of him. Levi had sworn to exterminate Eren, should his powers spiral out of control.  
But he couldn't.  
Something was wrong, it wasn't Eren's fault. He wasn't meaning to kill those soldiers. Humanity's Hope wasn't a murderer. He just needed...  
Levi wasn't sure what Eren needed. But he knew he wasn't going to give up on the kid. He wasn't going to put him down, he was going to save him. Because, if he couldn't, then who could? Humanity's Strongest versus Humanity's Last Hope. Levi was sure he could win. No one need die further.  
He spun around the trunk of a particularly large tree and re-entered the battlefield. Bodies littered the forest floor, blades scattered about where they'd fallen from limp hands. No one had been eaten, Levi noticed. So, Eren wasn't attacking, as such. He was defending. It wasn't a titan attack, that much was clear. Titan's attack solely to devour- the only time Eren's mouth opened was to roar.  
Another thing Levi noticed was that there were no other titans. It seemed the wrong time to be thinking of the initial purpose of their expedition- however, it was a notable absence. Usually, the human-titan hybrids attracted the plain titans. With the racket Eren was making, he should have attracted every titan in a 100 mile radius. None had shown up, however. Which could mean only one thing...  
There were none left.  
Eren was the last.  
"Captain Levi!" Someone called from below. A small group of soldiers were huddled behind a blockade of shrubbery, cowering from Eren.  
"What are you doing hiding in the shadows, cowards?" Levi growled back. "Men are dying, get yourselves out there and bring them to safety!"  
"Sir," On of the baffled scouts called back. "Aren't we going to engage the titan?"  
"No. Leave Eren to me, you act as medics. Find as many of the surviving as possible and-" Levi had to cut short, dodging Eren's fist by a hair's breadth. "GO!"  
He glanced back in time to see his men scurry back into the fray, pulling the whimpering injured back to safety. He nodded to himself and turned his attention to Eren, who had suddenly stopped flailing.  
The titan boy stood slouch, heaving gigantic breaths. his skin seemed sweaty and and he panted like a dog, large tongue lolling out of his jagged mouth. Levi approached slowly and with caution, coming to a halt in front of the gasping giant. He was strung by his 3DMG, the two wires stuck fast in opposite trees, dangling between them to look Yeager in the eye.  
"Eren?" He asked, his voice loud enough for Eren to hear, but not a shout.  
The titan hybrid stood, eyes still shut tight. No indication that he had heard Levi was given.  
"Eren Yeager, can you hear me?" Levi called louder. "Eren? If you can hear me, open your eyes."  
Movement. Eren shifted his enormous head, brow furrowing for a moment before he cracked an eye open. His panting calmed, hitching for a moment. It looked as if he'd just woken up.  
"Eren?" Levi's voice was soft- as soft as it could be, anyway. The Captain did not often change the tone of his usual bored drone, and any vocalised emotion was somewhat foreign to him.  
Eren let out a long, quiet moan, both eyes blinking open. His irises, almost the size of Levi himself, raised to meet him. His gaze was confused, shocked. In the gloomy light of the high moon, Eren's turquoise eyes shimmered.  
He growled again, almost as if he was trying to talk.  
"Eren, are you okay?"  
He blinked, a low rumbling vibrating the back of his throat.  
"Don't panic now, brat." Levi ordered, deciding that a commanding tone was what Eren needed right now. He was about to receive a nasty shock, and he needed an authoritative figure to cling to. Something to focus on, someone to listen to, to stop him from panicking. Something to occupy his mind, control him.  
Levi could relate.  
"As far as I am aware, you have just awoken. In case you have not noticed, you shifted in your sleep into your titan form." Levi paused, letting the information sink in. "I am going to pull you out now. We may further discuss tonights events once you are safely returned to your conscious human state. Do not move, Eren."  
Levi fired his gear into a tree behind Eren and swung around, then firing into his shoulder and pulling himself down onto the boy's neck. He prepared his blades to surgically remove Eren from the nape of his titan body when the ground beneath him shifted, jerking violently to the side. Of course, it wasn't ground Levi was perched upon, it was Eren.  
The boy's head whipped around frantically, his breathing picking up again. He began to whine, a broken, frighten sound.  
 _Shit_ , Levi thought. _He's seen the bodies. He's piecing it together_.  
He tried futilely to cut Eren out before he flipped completely, but the muscles beneath him were jerking so violently that he could hardly keep his footing, let alone perform the delicate incision that would pull Eren out intact.  
"Calm down, Eren!" Levi called. "Stop. Moving!"  
Then they launched forward, Levi sent toppling to the side, hanging from Eren's shoulder.  
"No- Eren!" Levi tugged at his gear, trying to free himself as he was swung back and forth in a death pendulum. "Stop!"  
The titan boy was running full pelt from the campsite, head bowed forward and arms pumping. Levi clung to his wire with all his might, resisting the urge to be sick as he was whipped around.  
The cool night air nipped at his skin, seeping in beneath his cravat. He shivered, surging forward to vomit away the bile that had begun to build in his throat. The world was a blur around him, Levi squeezed his eyes shut to try fight the need to be ill again. He was being violently shaken up, his brain rattling about in his head. He was no fool, anymore of this and he would die. Humans weren't meant to be flung around like a whip.  
They had covered so much ground it seemed almost impossible. The forest was sinking further and further behind them- at least, that's what Levi could tell from the quick peek he had before shutting his eyes again. The mountains were drawing nearer, uncharted territory looming before them.  
"Er-" He tried, and was promptly sick again. "St-op."  
Levi felt lightheaded, his mind slipping. He was going to fall unconscious. He was going to die.  
There was a distant cry, or maybe it was close and he was simply losing his senses. It sounded like sobbing. Loud, low sobbing. Could titans cry? Levi wasn't sure.  
All he knew was that he was going to die here, dangling front he shoulder of a crying human-titan hybrid in the middle of nowhere.  
Not a very fitting death for Humanity's Strongest. He had hoped that, if not a violent, go-down-swinging demise, then a peaceful death at least.  
He never seemed to get what he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also available on Wattpad!  
> http://www.wattpad.com/story/41243283

**Author's Note:**

> Join me at http://scribblesnsquiggles.tumblr.com


End file.
